Teaching

[needsomehelpsometimes]

So, I am currently doing my PGCE. I am really struggling with my behaviour management within the classroom. This has never happened before!
Previously I have been a TA in different schools working with children with challenging behaviours.
However, I seem to be really struggling. At the school I'm at currently I feel really uncomfortable. I've been made to feel like an impostor and that the class I am with isn't mine.
I struggle with my confidence and mental health but always have felt comfortable before with managing all sorts of behaviour!
I hope all this makes sense and I am really hoping to have some advice. I am only at this placement until Christmas but there is a chance I could be going back later on in the year. I have requested not to go back to this school at all! But for the mean time I am really struggling to the point where I am crying every night because I am stressed.

Just some prompts for you: What strategies are you currently using? What grade is the school (e.g. requires improvement)? How clear is their behaviour management policy? Have you observed other teachers to see how they're implementing the BM policy?

Also what subject? If that's too outing, are you a "desk" subject e.g. English, or a practical subject e.g. science?

You can measure a school with a good behaviour system by the way strangers are treated. In some schools, there is virtually no difference between classroom teachers and supply staff or PGCEs and the policy is that SLT support and monitor heavily, and students know this.

In other schools, like mine, strangers are completely ignored and the kids run riot. That is down to a behaviour system that is just not working and invisible SLT.

If this is the first time (and if you have followed your mentor's suggestions without seeing improvements) then don't be disheartened, it happens, and it says more about the school than about you. If it reoccurs regularly, look into what you need to improve.

The Sciences have not been a largely practical subject for a long time, especially at KS4.

So from what I have observed to the policy is different. These children know we can't do anything really. It is a primary year 3 class.
I'm constantly using attention grabbers and keeping my pace up so they can get onto tasks, but they keep talking which is hard cuz then the kids who are listening are getting bored because others aren't listening@PeekabooAtTheZoo

@ThrallsWife As a science teacher I would say science is practical if you make it practical. The reason I am asking is it makes a difference for classroom management because it's usually very difficult to move desks around in a lab or a DT classroom whereas in a classroom with just normal desks and chairs you can re-arrange things if you need to, as part of classroom management.

AIBU is probably not the best place to post this. There is a staffroom on here and TES have a good one (or used to when I needed it anyway!)

It is genuinely tough for student teachers to flex their behaviour muscles in a placement because the class ISN'T theirs. You are genuinely just a visitor.

Be consistent and be fair. Be consistent and be fair. Be consistent... and so on.

Every day is a new day with no issues carried over and make that clear to the students. Consistently.

Mentors, class teachers, uni tutors and SLT - thank them for their advice and say you will act on it.

A PGCE is a long stream of hoops to jump through. Make sure you tick the boxes and keep telling yourself you can do this.

Good luck

Total rubbish 🙄

@ThrallsWife
Thank you! I keep doing what my mentor has said but seeing nothing has changed. It is always the same kids. Honestly I am getting to the point where I don't know what to do. I have the same trouble with the kids who cause disruptions in the classroom when working in small groups.

TES don't have a forum anymore. Such a shame, is was so useful to me when training too.

What strategies does the class teacher use that work for this? Always wait for them to be quiet. Have you given them opportunities to talk during the lesson? Time to think, pair, share for example.
What are the consequences? Are you following the school's behaviour management policy?
I always find that heaping on lots of praise for doing what is expected works well.
There's a teacher on IG who is good for behaviour management tips. She's called goodmorningmsfosterltd
Have a look at her ideas.
This time of year is hard and the first term is gruelling. Even those of us who are experienced are finding it challenging.

It really isn't, unless you are in a school with oodles of curriculum time. I haven't worked in one of those in the last 10 of the 20 years I've been teaching.

OP, when you say the kids know you can't really do anything, what consequences do you have at your hands? Are the parents supportive?

If it's the same kids all the time, what consequences are there? What conversations have been had with their parents. Can they do the learning? What's their self esteem like?

@OrangeBlossom28
We use a zone board and I use it when I see fit. excellent behaviour they move up. Disruption they get 2 warnings and then moved down. either way I make it clear why I am moving them.
Half the time its before they even start the work. I make it very clear and simplify the work for the children who need it and then have challenges for the children who need it.
Honestly, it's not just me my mentor has the same issue but only I get told about it constantly which makes me feel awful and that I can't do it.

OP watch how the class teacher deals with those students. Keep in mind that many Primary students may have additional needs that have not yet been diagnosed so perhaps try implementing some different types of behaviour management tools.
Focus on the children who are behaving as you want them to and give lots of praise and catch the more challenging ones being good too.
Phone calls home are a powerful tool, I'd go for a positive one first commending the challenging child on something they did well and then if that didn't do the job of getting them on side because most young children like to please, I'd try a different tact.

@ThrallsWife must imagine all those practical lessons I teach every week then 🙄 The subject is what you make it.

my mentor has the same issue but only I get told about it constantly which makes me feel awful and that I can't do it

Then your mentor needs to step up here. It doesn't help if the classroom teacher who is supposed to help you with this is facing the same issues.

What are parents and SLT like in your place?

Take heart that it's not just you, they're like it for the class teacher as well.
I hate zone boards as when the children are moved down is such a public shaming.
Have you spent time speaking to them about why they behave the way they do? Really try and unpick the behaviours.
Praise them for doing the right thing as often as you can. A catch me chart with stickers works well for this.

@needsomehelpsometimes think of teacher training like learning to drive, you get pulled up on every little thing and judged as you need to show the specific skills but once you've passed then you really learn how to drive/teach.

Honestly hate zone boards but thats what they use. I know if it was me I'd hate that.
As for the parents you can tell some of them but they won't do anything or you tell them their kid gets that sort of telling off but they don't care.
It's so difficult I am following all the rules and advice and nothing seems to be working

Keep rolling your eyes, you might find your kind zone in your brain somewhere.

You are lucky, then. I am teaching up to the exam with my exam classes and am losing time left, right and centre to bank holidays/ project days etc. No time for playing about, I do the RPs and that's it at KS4. A little more play at KS5, barely any at KS3, but for slightly different reasons.

And that's been the norm, as I said, in all schools I've worked in for the last 10 years.

If you still want to go on at me how you have all the time in the world, please do, but away from this thread?

You can't expect things to change in a hurry. Try not to lose heart with it though. How about trying your own incentives for managing behaviour. Stickers against names and a raffle ticket for so many stickers. They can win a prize from a prize box you put together such a football cards, smelly rubbers, that sort of thing.
How many are we talking about altogether?

I think the most important thing is to never ever speak over any of the children. Always wait for everyone to be quiet and listening no matter how long it takes. The first few times can take a while but don’t get uncomfortable just wait patiently or continue your attention grabbers (e.g. rain stick or hands up). The children will all eventually stop because they’ll wonder what is going on.

Apart from that, if your mentor teacher has the same problems, I would use the resources available in the school and your university and ask to observe some other teachers to see how they do behaviour management. I would also ask your university tutor for advice or to observe you and to help with strategies. If there are other student teachers at the school, you could observe each other too.

Try going the opposite way. Be so over the top with your praise, you make yourself cringe. Praise every small thing! Bribes! Get a prize box, give merits, I pad time, VIP lunch party, biscuits, extra playtime. Bribe, bribe, bribe.

What rewards are in place, OP? What motivates your kids?

Do they really access the work, or do you think they should? There is a big difference. Have you had full information on your class, including oracy and reading ages?

Can you make the zone board more private, e.g. keep track on a mini whiteboard instead? TBH without parental support there is often little you can do.